


A Promise Resulting in Silence

by alienxginsberg



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, i have a hard time writing action scenes but im trying, idk man... its somethin thats for sure, keith tries to impress ppl by being cool but the moment someone questions him he is Nerve, keith will probably say ya'll, lance is selectively mute
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-02
Updated: 2017-02-02
Packaged: 2018-09-21 15:01:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9553772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alienxginsberg/pseuds/alienxginsberg
Summary: "'Keith! Pull back! We'll come back for him later! We need to pull back now!' Shiro’s voice blasted through their helmets again. But Keith wasn't ready to give up just yet. He struggled to make eye contact with Lance in the fray. Panic was evident in both boys’ eyes, but only Lance managed to nod his head. Just once and Keith pulled back from the horde."When Lance is captured by Galra forces, he experiences rounds of harsh interrogation and abuse, but even when the other paladins of Voltron manage to save him, he comes back completely different. Lance is now selectively mute and strangely distant from the rest of the team, but Keith isn't willing to give up just yet. Though Keith knows Lance is hurting right now, a world where Lance doesn't tell at least three stupid jokes a day isn't a world Keith wants to live in. He's got to help Lance regain his voice; Keith was never one for easy challenges after all.





	

_“Keith, just go! I’m right behind you!” Lance shoved Keith by the shoulder and pushed him in the direction of their lions._

_With the other paladins already boarding and preparing for take-off, Keith and Lance were the only Paladins left holding the Galra off. Keith took the shove and turned around on his heel, sprinting towards his lion. Red knelt and opened its jaws for Keith to enter. Before fully entering, Keith turned back to yell at Lance._

_“Lance! C’mon!” Lance fired off one last shot into the fray before turning around and sprinting towards his own lion. He didn’t get very far before a Galra soldier grabbed him around the waist and hoisted him up in the air. Despite Lance’s kicking and shoving, he wasn’t getting anywhere. Just before Keith would leap out of his lion to help Lance, Shiro’s voice came through the comms link in his helmet._

_“Keith! We must pull out! Hunk has the blue lion. Grab Lance and let’s get out of here!” he shouted._

_Keith vaulted from the mouth of his lion and charged at the horde of soldiers. His bayard was fully extended and ready. However, with all the soldiers having pulled Lance further into their crowd, Keith couldn’t get close enough to Lance to save him. It didn’t matter how many soldiers Keith downed, he was making no progress in the way of saving Lance. Keith began to panic._

_“A little help here, Keith?” Lance shouted, struggling aimlessly. Keith could see out of the corner of his eye, that Lance had been disarmed of his bayard and several more Galra had him by his arms, restraining him._

_“I’m trying!” Keith shouted back. There was no way for Keith to make it through that horde and still manage to save Lance; not without Keith getting captured too. Keith thought about getting in his lion and crushing the Galra with a large mechanical toe, but it was too risky. He could end up hurting Lance too if he wasn’t careful._

_“Keith! Pull back! We'll come back for him later! We need to pull back now!” Shiro’s voice blasted through their helmets again. But Keith wasn't ready to give up just yet. He struggled to make eye contact with Lance in the fray. Panic was evident in both boys’ eyes, but only Lance managed to nod his head. Just once and Keith pulled back from the horde._

_“We’ll come back for you, Lance!” Keith shouted, “We’ll come ba-“_

 

            Keith bolted up in his bed with a gasp. Three weeks in a row he’s dreamed about that fight and there was still no sign of finding Lance. Keith signed and tiredly ran a hand over his face.

            “God dammit,” Keith swore. He tossed his legs over the side of his bed and looked over at his alarm clock. The red blinking “3:27” almost seemed to laugh at him; Keith hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in days. He was constantly going to the training room at ungodly hours to work off the tension caused by his nightmares. And considering he hasn’t seen the others up so much, Keith figures Lance’s disappearance has affected him more than he originally thought it would. The rest of the team seemed dead set on holding onto hope that Lance would be alright once they got him back – _if_ they got him back. However, they’d already spent several weeks infiltrating and searching several Galran prisons and they hadn’t found any sign of Lance being held anywhere. Keith was beginning to lose hope.

_I shouldn’t have gone to that planet. I knew that signal seemed suspicious_ , Keith thought for likely the hundredth time this week. They were all thinking that. Keith wouldn’t say “I told you so” aloud, but he _did_ tell them he had a bad feeling about the planet calling them down for a celebration. The celebration was supposed to have been for Voltron’s repeated victories on little moons overcome by the Galra Empire, but as expected, the moment they dropped their guard, they were ambushed. They wouldn’t have even gone had Allura not insisted.

            “You’re Voltron! You’re _supposed_ to be a beacon of hope and encouragement. Do you really want to leave that callous impression on the people of that planet? What else are you going to do? Honestly.” Allura had groaned in exasperation.

_Anything else. Send them a note saying we couldn’t make it. We were called away on a distress call. If we just hadn’t gone…_ Keith shook his head to dispel the negative thoughts and stood up slowly. He hissed quietly when his bare feet hit the cold tile and reached around his bed to grab a red robe off the wall, wrapping it around himself. Keith slid the door open to his room and padded down the dimly lit hallway. He might have changed clothes and headed to the training deck on any other night, but tonight was different. For whatever reason, Keith’s feet took him in the direction of the helm instead.

            Keith’s bare feet slapped lightly on the ground with his steps, the gentle rhythmic sound was already starting helping calm Keith down from his nightmare. Up until Lance was taken, Keith never really noticed how loud it was with him. Lance was _always_ talking. Either he was trying to charm Allura (who Keith was at least fifty percent sure was gay), telling some stupid joke, or fluffing his metaphorical feather with compliments of himself. No matter what it was, he was always a loud, bubbly presence in the Castle.

            Sure, maybe Lance was annoying in the moment when Keith would much rather be concentrating on training than Lance’s stupid jokes, but they’d kind of grown on Keith. The two of them were almost friends know. Actual comrades. Not only were they fighting against Galra with little to no arguing at this point, Keith and Lance had actually begun sitting next to each other during meal times and laughed while Pidge did oddly accurate impressions of them. Lance even showed his concern for Keith when he would drag Keith from late night training sessions, complaining that if Keith overworked himself the team would suffer.

            “It’d be stupid and irresponsible to get yourself hurt just trying to be over-prepared, Keith. What happens when you’ve trained so much that you hurt yourself and can’t fight in a _real battle_?” Lance scolded. Keith had been so shocked at the time that he hadn’t been able to formulate a response before Lance turned on his heel and began stalking away to his own bedroom. Even when Keith made to follow Lance down the hallway, it occurred to him he still didn’t know what he was going to say, so he let Lance walk away and turn the corner.

            Keith almost felt… loved by Lance. It was like Keith was actually important to Lance – Not like Keith didn’t feel he was important to the rest of the team too. He did; however, it was… different with Lance. Less familial and more… intense, Keith supposed? And now that Lance was gone, Keith felt incredibly alone.

            Keith looked up from the tile floor to see a light emerging from the control room at the end of the hall. _Who else is up at this time of the morning?_ Keith wondered. _Maybe it’s Allura. God knows she’s taking Lance’s absence pretty hard too. Bless her heart._ Even though Keith knew it was his fault Lance was lost, Keith couldn’t help but notice the way that Allura pulled away from the paladins after Lance’s kidnapping. Allura might have influenced them to go down to the planet for the celebration, but Keith was the soldier who left his comrade behind instead of staying in the thick of it to save him.

            Keith shuffled up to the lit up door and knocked gently before letting the doors slide open. Allura turned around swiftly from her place at the helm. She looked tired. A map of stars and planets stretched out all around her.

            “Sorry,” Keith murmured, “I didn’t mean to scare you. What are you doing up?” Keith stepped into the room, wriggling his bare feet against the new flooring.

            Allura shook her head lightly and looked at the map of stars again, “I don’t know… I figured I might try and look again. Perhaps my lack of proper rest will make a difference.”

            “I doubt it,” Keith confessed, “But anything is worth a shot I guess.”

            Allura didn’t look at Keith when she asked sharply, “Why?”

            Keith shook his head, confused, “Why is it worth a shot or?”

            “No,” Allura clarified. She turned to look at Keith, “Why are _you_ trying so hard? I figured you’d be the first paladin to give up on him.”

            “No!” Allura flinched at Keith’s raised tone, her eyes wide. Keith shook his head and forced himself to continue in a lower tone, “I mean… He’s not dead. I would be different if… I don’t know.” Keith reached up and twirled the hair at his nape around his fingers, “If we didn’t see him before we left or something… but because we did, there’s still hope? I guess?”

            Allura nodded gently and looked back to the stars and planets that stretched across the room. “So you think we’ll find him alive then? You, Keith, who hated Lance the moment you two set eyes on each other, hope that we find him alive?”

            Keith opened his mouth to respond, but closed it for a moment in confusion. He hated Lance? Said who? “I don’t hate him,” Keith confessed, “I never hated him, actually. He was just… loud. And mildly annoying. Besides, he’s the Blue Paladin. We can’t form Voltron without him.”

            Allura laughed, “Loud and mildly annoying. Yep, that’s Lance!... But you don’t hate him. Okay.” She nodded to the map, “Where do you think he is, then?”

            Keith looked away from Allura and turned his head to the stars and planets around the room. “Well, um,” Keith stuttered. He opened and closed his mouth several times, trying to think through a halfway decent answer. “We’ve already looked at the Galra prisons stationed here, here, and here, right?” Keith waved his hand in the general direction of several glowing dots. “So I think… with the plan we’ve been using... we should probably look somewhere over here?” Keith gestured to a patch of glowing dots just adjacent of the ones he’d pointed at before. “-but actually we could actually try looking on the outskirts of the Galran Empire.”

            Allura raised her eyebrows in question. Keith’s face flushed in embarrassment, having been caught in his bullshitted answer.

            “Really?” She asked.

            “W-well, we’ve really been focusing on places closer to the Galra main base, right? But it’s too obvious. I mean, we saved you like that before didn’t we? Why would we make the same mistake over again?” Keith said quickly. His nerves had him rushing through his sentences. With his luck, Allura wouldn’t even be able to understand a word and then he’d have to explain it all over again. “They’ve probably got him in one of the prisons on the outskirts, b-but heavily guarded, ya know? S-somewhere where they like... maybe they’d interrogate him.”

            “Oh, I’m sure they are,” Allura shrugged, “We tried to do the same with Sendak, remember?”

            Keith grimaced in embarrassment, “Yeah... I remember.”

            “But you make an interesting point,” Allura assured, “It’d be harder to protect I think, but it wouldn’t be a place we would expect them to hide the Blue Paladin of Voltron.” Allura closed the map with a wave of her hand and looked over at Keith. “We’ll find him soon enough. I’m sure.” Allura smiled encouragingly at him. After a short moment, Keith smiled back, just a little bit.

            “Definitely,” he agreed. Allura nodded as she stepped off the raised platform and folded her arms together tightly against the cold.

            “I think I’m going to try to go back to sleep for a few more hours before everyone else gets up. You might want to try that too,” Allura suggested.

            Keith shook his head, “I think... I’m going to stay up a bit longer, actually.”

            “Suit yourself,” Allura shuffled to the doors of the control room quietly. “Goodnight, Keith.”

            “G’night, Allura.” Keith turned away from the doors and stepped up onto the platform, the planetary map swirling out to greet him. Outskirts of the Galra Empire his ass. Keith totally bullshitted that whole response. Truth be told, he had absolutely no idea where Lance could be. Just…in one of those prisons, he assumed. They just hadn’t found the right one yet.

_And what happens if we don’t find him in time and after they’ve exhausted his uses they kill him?_ Keith considered. _Stupid… They wouldn’t kill him. Not until they’ve tried to use him to get Voltron. We have until then We’ll have to find him. We promised. We have to find him._

            Despite Allura having gone to bed, Keith stayed up and stared at the mass of stars and planets spread around the room. Any one of them could hold Lance or at least a key to Lance’s location. Just being in the room surrounded by the possibility Lance would be found was enough to put Keith somewhat at ease. Sure, space was vast as fuck and it wasn’t likely that Keith and the other paladins would find Lance any time soon, but… being there in the helm surrounded by the stars – where Lance could quite literally be just a breath away – was more comforting than anything Keith had discovered yet. Keith sat down on the platform and leaned his back up against the computer panel at the helm and stared up at the stars pensively, slowly letting his eyes drift closed.

            Around six o’clock, Shiro wandered into the control room with a blanket in hand. He smiled gently at Keith who was slumped against the control panel, looking incredibly uncomfortable and tired. Keith’s eyes fluttered open and closed tiredly as Shiro walked towards him.

            “Good morning, Keith. I guess we should postpone early morning practice several hours for your sake?” Shiro asked gently. He reached out to wrap the blanket around Keith’s slumped shoulders.

            “Mm… no? I can fight. Train. I can… I got this, Shiro. Why are you doubting-” Keith yawned. “-me like this? I can do it.”

            Shiro shook his head before reaching for Keith’s hands, helping him stand up gently. “No need, buddy. Let’s just get you to bed. You’ll do more good once you get some rest.” Shiro began leading Leith back to his bedroom, “Besides… you don’t need to make excuses. We already know. Lance… means a lot to all of us. We’re all worried.”

            Keith sighed and leaned into Shiro’s gentle hold while he led Keith to his bedroom. _It’s my fault anyway. Lance is gone because of me. I deserve all this_.

            “Morning, Keith!” Pidge chirped. When Keith looked up from Shiro’s shoulder she whistled, “Geez, Keith! Did you even _get_ any sleep?”

            “Shush, Pidge,” Shiro scolded.

            Pidge followed Shiro and Keith excitedly for a few moments, staring curiously up at Shiro. The dark bags under her eyes said she was no better off than Keith, but the forced chipper attitude said she was denying her problem to cope. “Yeah, ok, but does this mean no training this morning?” Shiro laughed and shook his head.

            “No. Go to the training room, Pidge. If you, Hunk, and…” Shiro cleared his throat, “If you and Hunk are not in the training room by the time I get there, we’re doing laps.”

            “Aye, aye, captain!” Pidge shouted to clear the awkward air. They both knew whose name Shiro was intending to say before he caught himself. Pidge didn’t press it, but instead stopped trailing after the other two paladins, turning on her heel to head towards the training room instead.

            Shiro gently bumped the handle of Keith’s bedroom door with his hip to open it and lead Keith inside. After setting Keith down onto the cot gently, Shiro began reaching for other blankets on the bed and tucking them in around Keith. Keith let out a short laugh at the ridiculous sight of Shiro in his dirty, scuffed paladin uniform tucking him into bed.

            “What?” Shiro paused in his meticulous tucking to cock an eyebrow at Keith.

            “You’d make a good dad… tucking me in ‘n stuff… or like… a good older brother b’cause you’re not old enough to be my dad…” Keith yawned.

            Shiro scoffed a bit. “Yeah, okay, Keith. Get some sleep okay?” Shiro stood up to leave the room.

            “I don’t want to,” Keith said in the darkness of the room, his voice suddenly very pensive rather than loopy on lack of sleep.

            “Keith…” Shiro leaned over the cot to peer at Keith’s face better, but Keith rolled over on his other side before Shiro could get a good look.

            “Go train, Shiro. I’m fine. I’ll sleep.”

            Shiro bit his lower lip hesitantly but eventually just turned and walked towards the door of Keith’s room. He paused before opening the door. “Just so you know, Keith. I'm here to talk. I know what it’s like to… blame yourself like that…” When Keith didn’t respond, Shiro sighed. “Just food for thought. Rest well, Keith.” Shiro slid open the door and closed it behind himself gently, leaving Keith alone in the silent darkness.

            Keith pressed his face further into his pillow and pulled the sheets tucked around him up to his chin. He didn’t like the feeling of vulnerability; people weren’t supposed to see that kind of stuff in you or else they’d take advantage. Keith felt the rough pull of tears at the back of his throat. God, they needed to find Lance fast. Keith was starting to fall apart.

 

* * *

 

 

            “Keith said what now?” Pidge narrowed her eyes at Allura in suspicion.

            “That we should try looking at the Galra prisons on the outskirts of the Empire,” Allura repeated.

            “But wouldn’t they be harder to protect?” Shiro questioned. “They’re farther from the main fleet…” He leaned against the control panel and folded his arms across his chest. “Lance is a valuable commodity to the Galra. Why would they put him some place they couldn’t protect to the highest degree?”

            “Where do you think you were Shiro, when you were under Galra control?” Allura prodded. Shiro looked taken aback for a moment before he glanced up at the ceiling in thought.

            “I’m not sure…” He looked at Allura gain, “But I know that where I was they had a fight ring of prisoners. All of us in there were relatively powerful. Important too, I guess, considering I was their Champion of sorts and I wasn’t very well protected obviously. You think he could be in one of those?”

            “Possible,” Allura stated She sighed. “However, there are a lot of things that are ‘possible’ here, Shiro.”

            “Should I look up prisons that might have fight rings in the data we got from the past couple of missions?” Pidge suggested. “Might give good insight if nothing else, you know? I could also keep my eye out for any prisons that had an increase in security in the past few weeks.”

            “Wouldn’t hurt,” Hunk conceded. “I just hope we can find him fast… Lance does pretty well under pressure, but you know… it’s been weeks.” Hunk cleared his throat to hide the tiny voice crack that slipped in at the end. Pidge patted Hunk’s arm gently in consolation.

            “I’m sure he’s fine… We just have to invest all we’ve got. Right, guys? Then we’ll find him! I’m gonna go look up all that data” Pidge rushed out of the control room with Hunk hot on her heels.

            “Right! I’m gonna go help Pidge!”

            “You’re sure they would put Lance in such an unguarded place?” Shiro gazed at Allura skeptically.

            “Well,” Allura turned to face Shiro fully. “I think Keith – as you would say – pulled that one out of his ass.” Shiro couldn’t help but let out a laugh. “- _but_ there might be a more protected prison out there that still has a fight ring component. Pidge said she was going to look for heightened security, didn’t she?”

            “She did,” Shiro agreed.

            “We’ll find him eventually, Shiro. We just have to stick to our guns and don't lose hope!” Allura pumped a fist in the air with determination, reminding Shiro of Lance for a moment. Thinking about it, Shiro was sure that was intentional.

            “Easier said than done,” Shiro commented.

            “It almost always is,” Allura agreed.

 

* * *

 

            By the time Keith had reawaken (thankfully not due to nightmares this time), the other paladins, Allura, and Coran were already gathered together, discussing which prison to infiltrate next. Pidge’s research had yielded 5 different prisons that showed a heightened security in the past week or so. When Keith walked into the room, both Shiro and Allura were lobbying for the closest prison so they could fight sooner rather than later. The prison was also less heavily guarded so they wouldn’t have to take so many precautions. Hunk and Pidge wanted to try a more heavily guarded prison instead. It would take a longer time to get there considering it was several galaxies away according to Coran, but they were convinced it would yield better results. Coran was trying his best to placate both sides, but was not willing to be the tie breaker no matter how many times Allura pleaded with him. It wasn’t until both parties noticed Keith that they ceased arguing.

            “Keith! I hope you’ve recovered some of that lost sleep. We need you to settle something,” Allura gestured for Keith to come closer and he shuffled forward obediently, a little confused.

            “What is it?”

            “We’ve narrowed down the prisons we’re going to try to these five right here.” Allura gestured to five different highlighted dots in the map of stars and planets that circled the room. “And right now we’re arguing over attacking a less guarded prison that's closer – which would be quicker but might yield subpar results – or attacking a farther, more heavily guarded prison – which would be _less_ safe but might yield better results.” Allura grimaced, “According to Pidge, at least.”

            “My numbers aren’t wrong!” Pidge countered.

            “I’m sure,” Allura huffed. Shiro ignored both and addressed Keith with a stern look.

            “Which one do you think is best?” Shiro asked. Keith stared at the map of stars, contemplating both options. “Think about your decision wisely, Keith,” Shiro warned, “Voltron can’t help Lance if we’re all tied up fighti-”

            “I’d try the farther one,” Keith interrupted. Of course in typical Keith fashion, he chose the higher probability of finding Lance over his own physical safety.

            “Way to go, Keith!” Pidge pumped a fist in the air excitedly.

            “Then it’s decided!” Coran clapped his hands together once, decisively.

            “What? No! Coran, this is incredibly irresponsible!” Allura pleaded, looking frantically between Shiro and Coran for one of them to do something. Obviously her words weren’t making any difference despite her title.

            “You’re sure you’re not just saying that because you feel guilty and want to rush head first into danger without thinking, Keith?” Shiro asked, concerned, “Are you one hundred percent sure you want to do this?” Shiro looked Keith up and down, analyzing him.

            Irritation prickled at the base of Keith’s spine. He scoffed and scowled at Shiro, “I’m not sick or anything, Shiro. I’m just having nightmares. Everybody has nightmares. I want to find Lance.” Silence hung in the air for a moment.

            Pidge raised an eyebrow in momentary concern before shrugging and saying nonchalantly, “Bad excuse, but I’ll take it. Once we find Lance, we’ll all go back to being fine anyway so it doesn’t matter!”

            “It matters, Pidge,” Shiro shot her a look before sighing in defeat, “Majority rules, though.” He looked to Coran, “When should we leave?”

            “If we want to get there in a decent amount of time? Tomorrow,” Coran replied. Shiro nodded. Allura scoffed in disbelief beside him, still hung up on the current decision.

            “Alright then,” Shiro addressed the team of paladins. “You all keep that in mind during training later. We’re going to have to make up for the fact that Keith didn’t have any morning training today.”

            “What happens if I’d rather take a nap like Keith did this morning?” Pidge questioned, a sly, hopeful smile gracing her lips. Shiro simply shook his head and rolled his eyes.

            “Everybody, roll out! To the training room!” He called. Shiro wrapped an arm around Pidge’s shoulders, leading her out of the room with him while she half-heartedly struggled and complained about training. Keith and Hunk were a bit slower to follow, but they eventually made it out, each of the giving a little wave to Allura and Coran as they left.

_Tomorrow, we go get Lance_ , Keith thought. _Tomorrow, it’s on us to follow through on our promise to get him back. We can’t let him down. I won’t let us let him down._

 

**Author's Note:**

> my tumblr is katsukii-yuri !!
> 
> thank u guys for reading!! aaa idk what to say here but if i get enough kudos, i might do a second chapter!! i haven't decided yet, but tbh prospects are looking good i think


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